Advanced computing resources significantly improve visual effects associated with image capture and movie-making. Well known technologies include green-screen capture technology, digital overlay, and other post-processing techniques to transform raw camera-feed footage. Image processing technology has also advanced in the animation space, including improvements in generating digitally animated movies.
There are significant advances relating to image capture and actor generated visual effects. But limited advancements are found in other areas. For example, with puppetry, the physical nature of puppet and the user-controlled movement inhibit advanced animation techniques. To create multiple takes of a scene, the puppeteer must move the puppet identically for each take. This can be a difficult task. Minor variations in puppet movements between takes can become visible in an edited scene or movie.
Another limitation with puppetry is the static nature of the puppet itself. The puppet is a physical object, thus introducing a range of limitations for showing expression. For example, the physical nature of the puppet complicates facial expressions or other expressive movements.
For example, under current techniques, it is complicated and inefficient to generate a facial expression on a puppet in a scene, such as making the puppet smile. There are physical limitations of the medium itself, a physical object and the ability to properly manipulate the object to generate animation. For example, facial movements are inherently restricted to the movement available to the puppet itself, e.g. rolling eyes, opening mouth, etc.
One technique is for generating a visual effect with a physical object is stop-motion, manually adjusting the object frame by frame. This technique is not suited for puppetry, as the filming of puppetry is in real-time filming and stop-motion appears too jittery, creating a negative visual effect.
For puppetry, one technique is pure post-processing, using a two-dimensional processing technique to push around a puppet mouth shape, commonly referred to as a liquefy operation. This technique is limited because it is a two-dimensional technique and is only as good as the technician generating the computerized-image.
Therefore, there exists a need for improving the visual effects and generation of animation using a physical device such as a puppet or other object being, including a need for overcoming limitations of manual manipulation of object(s) during scene capture operations.